American Muslim Communities: Security Risk or Source of Hope?
By Shaanti Kapila
On March 22, 2006 Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-the West presented, "American Muslim Communities: Security Risk or Source of Hope?" a panel discussion at New York University. The panel was moderated by Mustapha Tlili and featured Daniel Sutherland, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Muqtedar Khan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware and Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Naheed Qureshi, board member of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers and National Field Organizer with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Mustapha Tlili began by noting that since September 11th and subsequent tragedies in Europe, an increasing awareness of the presence of large Muslim communities in the West has become part of the political landscape of the Western world. Questions of security, integration, and political participation have subsequently come to the fore in relation to these communities.
The mission of Dialogues, Tlili explained, is to debunk common misperceptions, like the fallacy of a "clash of civilizations," and to ask difficult questions about the underlying challenges to Muslim-Western relations, including questions regarding the presence of Islam in the West. Although the title of the evening's discussion may strike some as provocative, Tlili said that it was meant to bring to the level of the said what is unsaid in many minds in the "host" countries.
Challenging the notion of "security risk," Tlili emphasized that the report of the 9/11 Commission unequivocally exonerated the Muslim communities in this country from any link with the perpetrators of the terrorist acts. Moreover, he said, it is established fact that there is regular and productive cooperation between security agencies and various Muslim community organizations. American Muslims, like other immigrant groups in this land of immigration, are integrated in the fabric of the national life.
Weighing in on the side of "hope," Tlili noted that the open and pluralistic nature of the American political system offers reasonable hope that Muslim communities will achieve success through elections to various local and national offices in the years to come. If this happens, he said, and if these communities emerge as examples of Islam functioning in a pluralistic, modern context, they could serve as inspiration for those across the Muslim world who struggle with the question of how Muslim traditions can be adapted to our modern age.
Daniel Sutherland was the first panelist to take the floor. The mission of the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, he said, is to work toward better preserving security while maintaining the rights and liberties that are vital to the American way of life. He discussed the federal government's increased outreach efforts to the Muslim-American community in recent years and expressed optimism that engagement between the government and Arab- and Muslim-Americans would continue to deepen in the future. Sutherland emphasized that Muslim-Americans are part of the fabric of this country and have been for many generations, noting that the first mosque was built in the U.S. in the late 1800s. He acknowledged that Muslim-Americans do face hurdles today, including terrorist watch lists, no-fly lists, courthouse searches, and immigration and border problems. Yet he was hopeful that with increased cooperation between Muslim-American community leaders and the government, these hurdles would be overcome.
Sutherland compared the situation of Muslim immigrants in the U.S. and the U.K., noting that while the British government has done more to engage with its Muslim population (citing, for example, the several British Muslims who serve as parliamentarians in Great Britain), the U.K. lags overall in terms of general integration of Muslims in society. He cited various polls, including one conducted following the London transport bombings in July 2005 in which 63% of British Muslims polled said they considered leaving the U.K. By contrast, in the Detroit Arab American Study in 2003, 91% of U.S. Muslim respondents said they were "proud to be American."
Sutherland concluded by summarizing the multi-prong engagement strategy adopted by the Department of Homeland Security to build better relationships with American Muslims. This strategy includes: 1) effectively addressing civil rights complaints; 2) better training for DHS employees about Arab and Muslim cultures; 3) hiring new employees with relevant language skills and special competencies; 4) improving communication between DHS and American Muslim communities; 5) greater involvement by the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in policy discussions; and 6) developing community dialogue. The goal, he said, is to build strategic, thoughtful, long-lasting partnerships between the government and Arab-, Muslim-, and South Asian-American communities.
Muqtedar Khan took the floor next, underscoring the irony that since 9/11, the Muslim World looks more like the U.S., with a flourishing of elections and political campaigning, while the U.S. looks more like Egypt, with torture, arrests, and disappearances capturing headlines. Khan noted that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West, and that in the U.K., there are now more mosque-goers than church-goers. As Islam grows in the West, he said, Christianity is weakening. Again, he noted the irony that, at the current pace, Islam is on track to become the religion of the West, while Christianity could become the religion of the third world, owing to its expansion in the South, particularly in Africa.
Khan lamented that Muslims in the U.S. are hardly engaged with the government. Prior to 9/11, he said, Muslims in the U.S. were insecure about their own religion and sought to protect the "Muslim" in "American Muslims." At that time, Khan said, American Muslims did not fear that their political or civil rights would be threatened. Muslims were surprised by the government backlash against them post-9/11, contrasted with an outpouring of support from the American public. Khan noted, however, that opinion polls indicate more anti-Muslim sentiment today than in 2002. While relations between the government and American Muslims are improving, public suspicion of Muslims is on the rise.
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